[Daily Kos Morning Roundup](
A morning roundup of worthy pundit and news reads, brought to you by Daily Kos. [Click here to read the full web version.]( - [Christiane Amanpour voices dissent over Trump town hall, says she had âvery robust exchangeâ with CNN chief]( Christiane Amanpour voices dissent over Trump town hall, says she had âvery robust exchangeâ with CNN chief, Oliver Darcy, CNN
âBe truthful, but not neutral,â Amanpour urged. âBothsidesism is not always objectivity. It does not get you to the truth. Drawing false moral or factual equivalence is neither objective or truthful. Objectivity is our golden rule and it is in weighing all the sides and hearing all the evidence, but not rushing to equate them when there is no equating.â âThere is a 100% connection,â she said, âbetween a robust, independent, free and fair press and a functioning democracy and the advance of human rights and justice.â
- [Abolish Live TV Audiences in the 2024 Presidential Race]( Abolish Live TV Audiences in the 2024 Presidential Race, Walter Shapiro, The New Republic
CNNâs shameful town hall was a gift to Trump. Enough is enough. [T]hese days, TV production values matter more than serious content, even when Trump isnât dominating the stage. A cheering audience creates a level of ersatz excitement, whether it is for a prime-time, ratings-boosting CNN interview or a lowbrow, desperately cheerful syndicated quiz show. It is why all the 2016 and 2020 primary debates in both parties were tricked out with space-age sets and impossible-to-silence audiences. But in an era of accelerating hyperpartisanship and vicious attacks on the news media, allowing a peanut gallery at such events only indulges our worst tribal instincts. Thatâs why the networksâbroadcast and cable alikeâshould conduct their candidate interviews and debates in TV studios rather than trucking in disruptive crowds. Maybe the underlying problem is with the town meeting format itself. The questioners were all Republicans and independents who plan to vote in the 2024 GOP primary in New Hampshire. They were not chosen at random. âCNN handled all the selecting of audience members and audience questions,â The Boston Globe reported. That was apparent from the way Collins called on them by name, as if they were contestants on a game show: âJennifer Simpson ⦠is a stay-at-home mom and a former town selectman from Windham.â And it was CNNâs decision that none of the questioners came from the ranks of never-Trump Republicans and independents who can easily be found among New Hampshire voters.
- [Anti-vaxxer RFK Jr. is suing Daily Kos for protecting our community. The legal fees are piling up, you can donate $3 here to help us fight back?]( - [13 Ways of Looking at Kamala Harris]( 13 Ways of Looking at Kamala Harris, Jill Lawrence, The Bulwark
Is it time to reset how you think about the vice president? 13. That same day Harris went on a field trip to high-tech Babylon Micro-Farms in Richmond, Virginia. It was National Small Business Week and the company had received a $150,000 grant from the State Small Business Credit Initiative in the 2021 American Rescue Plan. âHas anybody been able to tour this facility? Itâs fascinating,â Harris said as she arrived at the lectern. âReally, congratulations,â she told the two founders and their team. âI could speak at length about what I think is the significance of this work, for our country, for our workforce, what it means in terms of a step, a very smart step, towards preserving precious resources like water. What it means in terms of developing the skills of the workforce, and the global impact of this kind of approach.â Call me credulous, but she sounded like she meant it. Itâs no stretch, after all, to believe a political leader from California would understand the import of a business thatâs helping to meet what she called the defining twenty-first-century challenge of âgrowing more food with less water.â Beyond that, Harris seemed just like she did in the 2019 turkey-brining tutorial: gesturing enthusiastically, completely in the moment, comfortable with the subject, and making personal connections with people she had just met. Hereâs a fourteenth way to look at Kamala Harris: After a rocky start, maybe sheâs found her footing.
- [Sacking Tucker Carlson has put a dent in Fox Newsâs ratings]( Sacking Tucker Carlson has put a dent in Fox Newsâs ratings, The Economist
Although the channelâs viewers skew conservative, they are open to persuasion from other sources. Yet so far, Mr Carlsonâs audience has spurned the rotating cast of hosts in his 8pm slot. According to Nielsen, a research firm, viewership fell from 3m during his final week to 1.5m the following week. It has been flat since then. Sean Hannity, whose show followed Mr Carlsonâs, has also lost a quarter of his audience. The biggest beneficiary has been Newsmax, a channel even further right than Fox, whose viewership at 8pm rose from 150,000 to nearly 500,000. However, that leaves 1.15m people who have stopped watching cable news at 8pm. Could a reduced intake of right-wing media affect their opinions? According to a recent study by David Broockman and Joshua Kalla, just 32% of regular Fox viewers are âstrongâ Republicans, a group likely to vote for the party no matter what. In contrast, 31% were âweakâ or âleaningâ Republicans, and 36% were independents or Democrats. The authors also found that Foxâs audience was open to persuasion. They randomly chose some Fox viewers to get paid to watch cnn, a more liberal channel, for a month. Compared with study participants who did not switch, this group was more likely to hold views aired on cnn, like covid-19 causing long-term health problems, and less likely to hold those stated on Fox, such as protests being likely to get more violent if Joe Biden became president.
- [Doesn't matter if you're a coffee or tea person, whatever you're drinking tastes better out of a Daily Kos mug. Get yours now!]( - [Trust in Supreme Court fell to lowest point in 50 years after abortion decision, poll shows]( Trust in Supreme Court fell to lowest point in 50 years after abortion decision, poll shows, Mark Sherman and Emily Swanson, The Associated Press
Confidence in the Supreme Court sank to its lowest point in at least 50 years in 2022 in the wake of the Dobbs decision that led to state bans and other restrictions on abortion, a major trends survey shows. The divide between Democrats and Republicans over support for abortion rights also was the largest ever in 2022, according to the General Social Survey. The long-running and widely respected survey conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago has been measuring confidence in the court since 1973, the same year that Roe v. Wade legalized abortion nationwide. In the 2022 survey, just 18% of Americans said they have a great deal of confidence in the court, down from 26% in 2021, and 36% said they had hardly any, up from 21%. Another 46% said they have âonly someâ confidence in the most recent survey. The drastic change was concentrated among women, Democrats and those who say a woman should be able to get an abortion if she wants one âfor any reason,â the survey shows.
- [The best way to deal with the debt ceiling: Ignore it]( The best way to deal with the debt ceiling: Ignore it, Neil H Buchanan and Michael Dorf, The Los Angeles Times
Once we hit the debt ceiling, Biden will bump into a constitutional obstacle no matter what he does. Failing to spend appropriated funds, raising taxes or borrowing money to pay the bills would all infringe on Congressâ constitutional powers. The president would face what we have called a âtrilemmaâ in which all his options are unconstitutional. Does that mean the president should do nothing? Hardly. Itâs not even clear what ânothingâ would mean in this context. Not pay the bills? That would amount to unconstitutionally cutting spending. Hide out at his beach house in Rehoboth? That would simply force other executive-branch officials to decide how to encroach on congressional powers. Even so, a choice has to be made. Comparing household and government finance is often unhelpful, but here it offers some guidance. Consider a financially distressed tenant who risks eviction if she skips a monthâs rent but also must buy gas and make loan payments on the car she needs to get to work. She explores alternatives: Maybe the landlord will cut her some slack; maybe she can ditch the car and take a bus. Even if there is no escaping an unappealing choice, she doesnât simply give up. Rather, she chooses the least bad option. ICYMI: Popular stories from the past week you won't want to miss: - [I don't need evidence or witnesses to prove Biden did crimes]( - [Interview with Russian POW tells story of harrowing escape]( - [Russia appears as fragile as a Faberge Egg]( Want even more Daily Kos? Check out our podcasts: - [The Brief: A one-hour weekly political conversation hosted by Markos Moulitsas and Kerry Eleveld]( - [The Downballot: Daily Kos' podcast devoted to downballot elections. New episodes every Thursday]( Want to write your own stories? [Log in]( or [sign up]( to post articles and comments on Daily Kos, the nation's largest progressive community. Follow Daily Kos on [Facebook](, [Twitter](, and [Instagram](. Thanks for all you do,
The Daily Kos team
Daily Kos Relies on Readers Like You
We don't have billionaire backers like some right-wing media outlets. Half our revenue comes from readers like you, meaning we literally couldn't do this work without you. Can you chip in $5 right now to help Daily Kos keep fighting? [Chip in $5](
If you wish to donate by mail instead, please send a check to Daily Kos, PO Box 70036, Oakland, CA, 94612. Contributions to Daily Kos are not tax deductible. Sent via [ActionNetwork.org](. To update your email address, change your name or address, or to stop receiving emails from Daily Kos, please [click here](.